Syria Gets Internet Hookup Courtesy of China

Today in international tech news: Thanks to telecommunications company PCCW, China becomes a beacon of Internet access in Syria, helping facilitate the flow information into and out of the country. Elsewhere, Kindle gets ready to launch in India while the local government ups its effort to control what gets said on the Internet. Also, Foxconn finally gets some love.

In an article from Computer World, a Renesys spokesman pointed out the irony in China -- a country known for stifling the flow of information on the Internet -- facilitating communications both within Syria and between Syria and the outside world.

Other telecommunications companies have withdrawn from war-torn Syria, leaving PCCW as a major thoroughfare for rebel communications and news. Turk Telecom, for instance, went black on Aug. 12. As the AP points out, Turkey has opposed the Syrian regime while China has remained an ally.

Indian Government Gets Heavy-Handed With Twitter

Twitter could face legal action if it doesn't heed the Indian government's request to censor sensitive messages, according to The Times of India.

India's government, which has been collaborating with Google and Facebook on the issue of "hate content" coming from Pakistan, has been on a censorship kick of late. Earlier this week the country blocked more than 150 websites and restricted bulk text messages, according to Cnet.

At perhaps the height of the row over Foxconn, Apple CEO Tim Cook visited a plant in China, bringing yet more attention to Foxconn and perhaps catalyzing some of these improvements.

RIM Taps New UK, Ireland Exec

Rob Orr will take over as Research In Motion's UK and Ireland managing director on Sept. 1, according to ZDNet.

The move is designed to make sure that RIM's European operations are "optimally structured" for selling the existing BlackBerry 7 smartphone and for the early 2013 release of BlackBerry 10, a RIM spokesperson told ZDNet.

The UK has been one of RIM's few bright spots of late. The Canada-based company said that UK sales account for about 10 percent of its total revenue. As of last November, RIM had more than 8 million British subscribers.

RIM currently has a roughly 11 percent market share in the UK.

Tech Trek is a blog that looks at tech news from around the world. David Vranicar is a freelance journalist. His ECT News Network archive, with links to articles and podcasts, is
available here. You can email him at david.vranicar@newsroom.ectnews.com.